Lets Stop Moaning - Progress is being made

Cork

The announcement by the government on bringing broadband telecommunications to our major towns & cities has got to be welcomed. Together with the telecommunications bill – we are seeing some movement.

Bertie made some announcements tonight at the Ard Fheis regarding rolling out countrywide broadband. These are all positive signs.

We all can moan – that they should have done this a few years ago. Moaning will achieve nothing.

We can moan about ISPs. I was having trouble with my Internet connection yesterday – I was determined not to ring a 58p per minute support line. Do many of these ISPs have Customer Service Departments?

· UTV internet only charge a local call rate – This needs to be pointed out *

Overall, Broadband telecommunications has been taken onboard by Bertie. This is very positive. I think that the future looks bright for consumers.

Boston

well in a cuple of weeks im taking off for a year and a half so once something happens by the time im back online i dont mind

BuffyBot

Originally posted by Cork
The announcement by the government on bringing broadband telecommunications to our major towns & cities has got to be welcomed. Together with the telecommunications bill – we are seeing some movement.

Bertie made some announcements tonight at the Ard Fheis regarding rolling out countrywide broadband. These are all positive signs.

But, the question is:

Do we beleive it????

ando

Originally posted by BuffyBoy



But, the question is:

Do we beleive it????

i do believe that their intentions are good (for now), but once the media attention goes from broadband, their attention will slowly wander elsewhere.... *cough* why was the comms bill dropped last year to a less important issue ?

byrnenj

I think we have every right to moan. I'm not complaing about the progress, but the rate at which we are progressing. By the time we actually see the rollout of DSL how far will we be behind!!

timod

Yes. I agree. Progress is being made.

Jeez, it was only a couple of years ago when the best you could get dialup access at 28k!

Who would have thought that 10 years later, Ireland would have taken the huge steps to 56k!!

Amazing isn't it. Hard to keep up to date with modern technology. I bet the rest of the civilised world is jealous.

Cork

I know progress is slow - but things are beginning to happen.

I know it is at a snails pace - but I think that LLU is coming, the manifestos are coming & the communications bill.

I think Bertie is very aware of the problem & I think he'll do his best.

There is no point at looking to the past. But, don't get me going about Eircom.

Pimp

Will these promises be made every year or just the year theres an election?

dahamsta

How about FRIACO, is progress being made there? Should we throw all the research telling us that FRIACO is an essential stepping stone to broadband out of the window?

For that matter, /is/ progress being made? I've seen regular announcements on investment ever since I first realised just what a backward state we are, but I have yet to see the result.

Sorry folks, just playin devil's advocate, the questions have to be asked. When I have a flat-rate or broadband Internet product in my home, /then/ I'll concede we're making progress.

adam

NeRb666

Ard Fheis + Election = bull****

Boston

pregress is being made, esat are getting aggresive in there quest for new customers again. ever since bt took over they have been slow.

dahamsta

Devil's Advocate Comment No.1: Hands up who's seen an Esat Fusion ad recently?

adam

conZ

well in a cuple of weeks im taking off for a year and a half so once something happens by the time im back online i dont mind

good riddance:D

Boston

ive seen them everywhere, bus stops, this weeks rte guide, in pcs mags

Boston

Originally posted by conZ


good riddance:D

sorry but who are you

segadreamcast

Originally posted by Boston
well in a cuple of weeks im taking off for a year and a half so once something happens by the time im back online i dont mind

Sorry Boston - but do you only care about yourself? "As long as I have it when I'm back - no I don't care about what happens for the next 18 months"

Dangger

I think Bertie is very aware of the problem & I think he'll do his best. There is no point at looking to the past.

How do you think we got to the state we're in today, just how aware do you really believe these guys are? I agree with not dwelling on the past, but judging their future performance by how they've behaved to date is something I've gotten used to. However I believe IrelandOffline can play an important role in changing this.

Typedef

Originally posted by dahamsta
How about FRIACO, is progress being made there? Should we throw all the research telling us that FRIACO is an essential stepping stone to broadband out of the window?

I agree with this, in the reality of all things that are, it is nigh impossible to run before walking. Now I know we would all like it to be the case that you can simply bypass the entire walking stage, but that is simply not a logical progression and lets face it, if eircom were not strangeling the telco market there would be a plethora of companies that would be only too happy to invest in broadband ventures, so instead of throwing taxpayers money at a state created eircom problem, lets simply deal with the eircom problem and thus negate the need to spend €x million/billion on effectively rebuilding the national pstn network after the disasterous corporate takeover of the one 'we' (where we=='some rabid PD who thinks privitisation is great') already had.

BoneCollector

Simple!

Words are cheap!
how many times has the minister for enterprise been quoted in the press that flat rate internet will happen next month, next year, etc....

i wouldnt get to enthusiastic untill there is actual work being done!
(Dont kid youself ladies)

Boston

Originally posted by NoelRock


Sorry Boston - but do you only care about yourself? "As long as I have it when I'm back - no I don't care about what happens for the next 18 months"

you miss read, all im saying is im true driving myself insane for at least another 18 months.

Stonemason

Has help me deal with the frustration of our present situation it does have a roll to play.Moaning if that is what you wish to call it is why the likes of irelandoffline was formed and seeings how iofl has help greatly in pushing the message to the goverment that we the public are not happy about this situation then its been a moan well spent .I like a few others on here are only concerned that all this talk is just that and i will continue to moan untill the promises are kept.The truth is if the goverment says it is going to do something, without a fair bit of nagging it will be put off until tommoro which as we all know never comes.I dont know if it is the same in dublin but down here in tipperary regardless of what busines you deal with whether it building buying in stock ect ect unless you hound them constantly the work never gets done.



Stone:D

PS I still think we are moving forward but alot slower than i would like

Cork

Lets be positive here. Battles are being won. But the war is still to be won. But Progress is being made.

Cork

I accept that words are cheap. I accept promises have been made. I too see the ads for flat rate access for the UK. I see that LLU opening is like pulling teeth.

We are so disillusioned that the proof of the pubbing will have to wait untill the eating.

has Eircom.net even a Customer Care Department?

What is the ststus of the Communications bill?
Will it give the regulator better powers?

But - Flat rate is coming. LLU is coming. When?

God Knows,

But the government seems to have copped on.

Xian

Originally posted by dahamsta
How about FRIACO, is progress being made there? Should we throw all the research telling us that FRIACO is an essential stepping stone to broadband out of the window?

It is and will remain essential, independent of how it is offered. I have already voiced my conditional support for the Telecommunications Working Group report.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42731&pagenumber=1

quote:

---

...based on a vision to make affordable high-speed internet services available to consumers

---

.
Firstly "affordable". It must be made explicit that the service provided will be flat-rate and unlimited at the chosen bandwidth. That way it would reflect the cost of providing the service.
Secondly "high-speed". Included in this "vision" should be the option of paying for a 28K (or even 15K) connection at a token price if your needs are only for access to e-mail and occasional browsing. Services providing additional bandwidth should be priced as a multiple of this price depending on the bandwidth required up to the level required by businesses.
Lastly "consumer". Change that to "community". The government have to get their heads around the fact that the internet is not some hobby, toy or luxury. It is a necessity, in the same way that terrestrial television and the postal service are necessities. It provides people with the information they need. When the government talks about any of these other services, they do not refer to the users of these services as "consumers" but "the public". The same should be the case when referring to internet access.

Firstly, we should ignore government talk of this report "dovetailing" with that of the Infocomms report to the DoPE report which, from what I have read, is full of rehashed guff and nonsense with zero content.
Secondly, IrelandOffline should account for the possibility that eircom will remain intractable on the issue of FRIACO and recognize that the TWG report offers a solution in this scenario, given that its basis is on open competition between retail telcos through public-private ownership of the network and the running of the network by a wholesale operator with no conflicts of interest.
Thirdly, FRIACO will always be a piece of the jigsaw and never the entire answer. A mature domestic internet society would be made up of an equal measure of dial-up, flat-rate and broadband users. This cannot be acheivable without the introduction of FRIACO, irrespective of the means.
Lastly, if IrelandOffline can receive assurances on the above provisos, it would acheive an alignment of its FRIACO-supporting membership and the broadband supporters. It would also be singing from the same hymn sheet as big business which would form an alliance that would be hard to ignore from a government perspective.

SimonMaher

Just two brief points for Cork -

1. Bertie said a lot of things at the Ard Fheis. These included a promise to "abolish traffic congestion". This was stated to be a "committment". He said that they would continue their "heavy investment in public transport". Do you know how many extra buses Dublin Bus will get this year (when fleet replacement needs are taken into account). Answer = 2. "Crime figures are reaching all time lows", so Bertie promises "2000 extra Gardai and more prison places". Hmm. Ard Fheis speak, which is not grounded in reality.

2. Noel Dempsey and Mary Harney were both interviewed last week and both talked about this great "broadband to the regions" plan. Mary Harney even went so far as to say that the investment was needed for domestic broadband in the regions because "there is already significant competition in the broadband market in Dublin".

These people are lucky enough to live in an alternate reality to the rest of us, where its possible to go online in the daytime without remortgaging the house, where the fat mouse in the Eircom ads actually helps you surf, and where its possible to get from point A to point B without nightmare commuting.

I would love to believe that progress is being made, but even the tiny movement we do see has us falling further and further behind our European neighbours and even our supposed "less developed" countries. Lima in Peru (one of the poorest cities in the world) has recently celebrated its 100,000th DSL customer sign up.

Pete Reed